Regret
by wyndfyre
Summary: In the end, I regret what the world had become. And I'm sure the humans regret it too, but netherless, it was too late to repent. Mankind had upset the elements and taken them for granted. They had to pay the price.


"Who are you?" he stammered.

"Me?" I lowered my glasses to let him get a glimpse of my burning red eyes. He shivered. "I'm Kaen. Lord of Fire and anything related. It'll do you good to remember that." With that, I walked away into the trees.

Am I cool or what?

--

"Am I disturbing you?" a voice at the door asked.

"Uh-huh, yes," I replied, my eyes on my book. I knew who it was anyway without needing to look.

"Sorry, but I can't take it anymore."

"Mmm, yeah, that's nice," idly, I picked my ear.

"I'm leaving."

That caught my attention. I looked up from my manga (amazing what humans come up with these days) at the figure standing at the door, clutching a suitcase.

"Ha, good one," I scoffed.

Ayre fidgeted, not meeting my graze. Her long straight white hair that reached her waist fluttered gently in the breeze around her. She was quiet and reserved, but don't let that fool you.

"I really am," she protested.

"Tell me another one."

She scowled and her shy demeanour changed. She glared at me through stormy grey eyes and hissed, "I'm sick and tired of this place. I'm going and I'm NOT coming back!"

Seriously, her unpredictable mood changes can be scary. I tried the nice and easy approach.

"We've done this before," I said smoothly. "Why don't you sit down and I'll get you a drink? So what did they do this time?"

"I'll tell you what they did," she half-snarled. "Forest fires. Some… some _idiot_ wants to clear a forest for industry purposes. And what faster way to get rid of the obstacles than starting a full blown fire?! And do you know how much SMOKE they're releasing into MY air?!"

"Clearing a forest? You know, I think Gaia should be the one offended."

"Oh, she is. She went to complain and I don't think I'm the only one glad to leave!"

I held up my hands.

"Chill, okay? Everything will work out in time," I said. "Now, about that drink?"

"You're insufferable! It's YOUR fire and you're not going to do anything about it?!" she snapped. She whirled on her toes and was whisked away by her chauffer wind.

I blinked at the spot where she was standing. I shrugged, picked up my manga and resume reading.

But I was interrupted another time by another unwelcomed visitor.

"Did Ayre come and see you?" Tyr asked.

"Really, doesn't anyone knock anymore?" I sighed in mock regret as I lowered my book to peer at the newcomer.

"You don't have a door idiot."

"I wonder who broke that," I said pointedly.

"Don't change the subject! Did Ayre come by and tell you she's leaving with Gaia?" Tyr demanded. He's true name was Watyr, which he shortened to the last three letters. He was this guy with green hair so dark it was almost black and sea-blue eyes. He wasn't exactly my favourite person in the world and neither was I his. We never see eye to eye on many, many, many issues.

"She might have," I shrugged in that endearing way I have.

"Can't you give straight answers for once?!" he sighed exasperatedly.

"I'll consider that. Did you come just to check up on Ayre or do you just miss me?"

"You wish. I just want to ask what are you going to do about it if she's serious?"

"I'll have to stop her then."

"Why?" he asked abruptly. "Seeing things from her point of view, I'm going to go with her then."

That surprised me.

"You're going too?" I asked. "But then who's going to kick your butt?"

"I think I can live without that."

"I can see why Ayre and Gaia want to go, with forest burning and stuff like that, but what do you have against humans?"

"Are you blind? Air pollution and nature extinction isn't exactly the only major problems that the humans bring up."

"They stopped selling your favourite coffee?"

"Water pollution, fried-brain," Tyr growled. "Humans pollute the seas, the rivers, the lakes, the ponds… even the rain that comes down is acidic due to chemicals in the air! Honestly, I wonder why I bother talking to you!"

"Honestly, I wonder why too."

Tyr threw his hands up in the air in frustration and stomped out.

"You still owe me a new door!" I shouted after him.

I shook my head. Three out of the six of us have issues with the humans and I can't fathom why. Alright, maybe they have been using my fire for the wrong purposes but still, there's no reason why they have to get all irritated. It's not like we haven't travelled down this road before.

With a sigh, I closed my manga. I probably should pay a visit to down below. It's been some time since I visited anyway. Four hundred and twenty-three years to be exact.

Okay, introduction time. My name was Kaen, but if I tell you that was my true name, I'd be lying. My true name was Fyre, but I can't go around introducing myself like that. That's why I'm Kaen. Japanese word for blaze. Look it up.

Anyway, I happened to be one of the four elements. Yes, we are people and we did exist since the very beginning of the world, but we can choose to appear at whatever age we want and obviously we wouldn't want to look like dried up really old people. Unfortunately, people don't really know about that and thus, they take us for granted. A bit too many times if I may add. But still, it can't be that serious down on earth.

I threw a glance at the mirror. A guy probably around seventeen with his sooty black hair all over the place and his blood red eyes blazing unnaturally looked back.

After a minute of consideration, I pulled out a pair of sunglasses from a sack at my feet and put them on. Unless humans already have red eyes there's no reason to frighten them. I remembered the last time (four hundred and twenty-years ago) I went down and everyone in Greece thought I was the devil. That would have been funny except for the fact they tried to stone me. That wasn't so funny.

Satisfied with my appearance, I snapped my fingers. Fire sprang up in a wall around me and a second later, when it disappeared I was on Earth. The only tell-tale sign that I arrived was the black ring of my arrival spot.

I looked around, mildly interested. I had randomly chosen a spot and I appeared in forest. There were trees all around and I could hear the cries of birds and other animals. I hate to admit it, but Gaia's gift to mankind was really beautiful.

Then I froze when I heard a loud crack. All at once, the birds shrieked together in a protest and flew out of their homes in the trees upwards into the sky. More cracks followed. I now recognized the noise to be that of gunfire. I read enough comics to know that gunfire is bad and can actually kill.

Another noise caught my attention. It was loud and it sounded like whirling metal. Without warning, a tree suddenly attacked the place I was standing. With a startled yelp, I dodged out of the way and the tree thudded into the ground. I stared at the part where was cut. Sap was oozing out. The tree was bleeding, dying, in front of my eyes. If I were Gaia (thankfully I'm not) I'm sure I'd be able to hear it scream.

A large sized man appeared. He had a paunch and wore a t-shirt that hardly covered it. Plus, he was smoking, the tip of his cigarette glowing. In his hand was a device with a whirling large blade sticking out of it. He stopped when he saw me and spat on the ground.

"You just killed a tree," I squeaked.

"So? Who are you?" the man snorted. One of the gifts my brethren and I possess is the ability to hear and speak whatever language was being used. "You not ranger, are you? I kill you then." He scratched his bottom.

Charming.

"Uh, no. I lost," I said, trying to match the human's horrible grammar. I backed away from the blade that was looking pretty dangerous. It didn't help he stepped forward.

"You rich?" he demanded, his eyes glinting greedily.

I sucked in a deep breath- and immediately choked. The air was filthy! It was suffocating! Now I see why Ayre was so pissed with humans, clogging up her precious air.

I snapped my fingers, and the dude's shoes caught fire. He yelped and started dancing, trying to put the flames out. But those are pure flames so they won't go out with mere dancing. And they don't give out smoke, unlike those matches or gas that humans use to create fake fire.

"Listen well," I said in the voice I reserve usually for talking to humans, the voice that radiates power, the voice that spells 'I'm superior than you noobs'. Okay, that's perhaps very egoistic, but it works.

"I forbid you to cut down any more trees and I command you to stop smoking. Don't you know it's bad for the lungs and don't get me started on what the smoke does to the environment," I wrinkled my nose. "And I want you to tell all your other tree-killing and smoking buddies to stop as well or else I will personally pay them a visit and them to ashes, yourself included. Ya hear?"

He nodded, or at least I think he did. Can't tell with him hopping around. I snapped my fingers again and the fire disappeared at once, to appear on the blade machine thing. He yelped and dropped it, staring with open eyes as the fire ate it up without leaving any trace. And his shoes were perfectly fine. He looked up at me, his cigarette falling out of his gaping mouth. Grimacing, I waved my hand and the lighted tip extinguished.

"Who are you?" he stammered.

"Me?" I lowered my glasses to let him get a glimpse of my burning red eyes. He shivered. "I'm Kaen. Lord of Fire and anything related. It'll do you good to remember that." With that, I walked away into the trees.

Am I cool or what?

I won't bore you with details of what I told the maniac making the gunfire noise. I'll let you know he tried to shoot me though. Nice knowing there are people like this all over the world.

Anyway, I tramped out of the forest and stopped short. I was standing on a hill overlooking the sea. Well, I think it's the sea.

There was rubbish piled up at the beach, more floating in the sea. The water itself was murky and I swear there were dead fish among the trash as well. I almost puked as the smell washed over me. There was a large pipe sticking out from a sewer, spewing out brown stuff. I suspected that's what humans excrete. Ugh.

Further down was a factory, its five chimneys all puffing think black smoke merrily. Another pipe led out from it, pouring slick liquid into the sea. I take it to be oil or anything of the sort.

To my left, I heard more noises and it turned out to be a highway, jammed with cars. Some drivers were honking, smoking, spitting and swearing all at the same time. Amazing how humans can multi-task.

But what really irked me was the huge fire blazing down at the beach. There were workers busy dumping waste materials into it to burn. More smoke billowed out and I clenched my fist. Ayre's words rang in my head:

_It's YOUR fire and you're not going to do anything about it?!_

I clapped my hands and held it out towards the fire. At once, the fire leapt at the workers and caught on their clothes. They yelled and pranced about, jumping into the sea. The fire went out and I rolled my eyes. I hate water. It's no fun. Just like Tyr.

I directed the fire to the rest of the beach and it swept over the rubbish, turning all of it into nothing. In mere seconds, the beach was clean. Too bad I can't say the same about the sea but that's Tyr's job. No way am I doing it for him even if I can.

As the finale, I lifted my hands and the fire shot up into the sky like a rocket and exploded into sparks that died out.

I shook my head. I've seen enough. Cutting down trees and hunting wildlife, air and water pollution, misusing fire… the world is corrupted. It has to go.

The wall of fire rose up around me again as I turned to return.

--

"This subject is submitted to a vote," Lyte cleared his throat. He was this guy with golden hair and liquid amber eyes. He was always glowing as well, giving out light. Basically he represents life. You could say he was our president, always acting as a judge between us.

"There is no need for a vote!" Gaia protested. "Four of us have already decided. We're leaving!" Gaia's true name was Earthe, but she detested it and made us call her Gaia, which means Mother Nature. It makes no difference to me, but when I pointed that out the first time, she half-strangled me. She had tanned skinned, sharp green eyes and mahogany wavy hair always up in a tight bun. You wouldn't want to cross her.

"Even you, Fyre?" the figure next to Lyte drawled in a heavy voice. She was twin to Lyte, but the total opposite. Darke was clad in black, had raven hair and black eyes so deep if you stare into them you feel as though you were falling. And she represents death. A stark contrast to Lyte. The only similarity they share was the habit of calling us by our true names. Gaia didn't like that but she didn't say anything to them and when I told her that was unfair she half-strangled me AGAIN. but I can't blame her for not standing up against Lyte and Darke. Both of them were terribly powerful, twice more than even me.

"Yep," I nodded. "Humans don't deserve the give we bring them. We've given them many chances and they blew it all." It stings, but it's the truth.

Lyte blew a strand out of his eyes.

"Well, even if Darke and I protest, it's still four against two. Very well then. We'll all leave."

Ayre, Gaia and Tyr cheered.

"I hear Pluto's a nice place," Ayre said.

"Too cold," Gaia grimaced. "But I supposed fried-brain would come in handy then."

"I'm thinking of visiting other galaxies," Tyr added.

All of them began making plans together, talking excitedly. With a sigh, I got up and walked out of the room into the outdoors. We were above the clouds so I could look down at the world below. It was dusk and from above it looked so peaceful, but I knew otherwise.

"They had it coming," a voice behind me made me jump. I knew without looking it was Darke. She came up to stand next to me. "They brought their own fates by themselves, the ignorant fools."

"Do you want to leave?" I asked her.

After a moment's quiet, she answered, "I do. There are just too many deaths happening everyday. It's giving me a headache trying to file the reports. Famine, poverty, plague… and it's unfair how rich people are allowed to live in comfort while the poor toil. I welcome the chance to start anew, where everybody is equal."

I didn't say anything to that as I continued to observe the world beneath.

"Darke, fried-brain! C'mon, we're leaving!" Tyr shouted from inside. "Kaen, if you change your mind and decide to stay no problem. I'll be glad to leave you behind!"

"We'll see who'll have the last laugh when your butt freezes up without me around," I retorted.

I took one last long look and turned away. Darke didn't move.

"You coming?" I asked her.

"Go ahead, I'll catch up," she said softly. "I shall remain for a while when Lyte leaves the world. I shall allow darkness to ascend, masking the end as my parting gift to mankind."

I bowed my head at that.

--

Gaia led the way out to space, and all the plants withered, the animals died. Next to go was Tyr, and the seas, rivers and lakes dried up. Ayre followed and took everything with her, the winds and the gases in the air, oxygen, carbon dioxide and all that.

I went off next, glancing behind me at the round sphere known as Earth. Lyte and Darke shared one look and then Lyte took off as well. Everything descended into pure black. I wondered what would happen if Darke left too. What will the humans see if not light or darkness?

In the end, I regret what the world had become. And I'm sure the humans regret it too, but netherless, it was too late to repent. Mankind had upset the elements and taken them for granted.

They had to pay the price.


End file.
